Escape the Night: Downtime
by Dede42
Summary: After retrieving the fourth artifact, Joey decides that they need to have a short break before doing the ritual to seal the evil away.


Escape the Night: Downtime

A/N: Hey everyone! So, here's the second update as promised and this is just a one-shot, sort of a mid-season bit to give our surviving YouTubers a chance to recover and find out where Matt and Tim had ended up when they got grabbed by the Guardian.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **ONE-SHOT: TIME OUT**

When the group got back to the house and placed the final artifact onto the mantle with the other three, they all collapsed onto the couches and chairs, amazed that they had all gotten out of the circus alive, _and_ had managed to obtain the final artifact in the process.

Arthur escorted Oli and Tim out of the living room so that they could get back into their clothes, and Tim was relieved since that meant he was going to get his watch back after all. He was particularly relieved since the watch had belonged to his great-grandfather and he wouldn't had been able to forgive himself if he lost it.

* * *

Once they were dressed, the group was wondering what to do next now that they had all four artifacts in their possession. It was Arthur who'd suggested that maybe they should all take a break before performing the ritual, and this got full agreement out of the group.

"Sarah and I will prepare you all some food," said the butler and they both left to go to the kitchen.

"Guys," Tim said once they were out of ear-shot. "Matt and I learned something when we got taken by the Guardian earlier."

"Where did you guys go anyway?" Joey asked since that'd been bugging him.

Tim sighed, taking a moment to recall what happen. "After the Guardian grabbed me," he explained. "I woke up in this dark room, chained to a wall, and when it did lit up enough, I found that there was this cat-like woman in the room with me. She told me that the note Eva received was to give us false hope, and that had the Guardian captured all of us, not only would have the evil gotten the artifacts back, we all would've been killed off one-by-one, starting with me."

"Wait, you're saying that we wouldn't have had to start over in getting the artifacts?" Oli asked and Tim nodded. "My God."

"And that's not the only thing I learned," Tim continued. "That cat-lady also told me that she was really looking forward to seeing you, Dawn, and that you had some kind of _Light_ inside you."

Dawn was confused by this. "Light? What Light?" she asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"We know," Matt agreed. "Before the Ringmaster showed up, we were able to learn something else about what she meant by the Light. She said that you're special, and that you have a Light inside you that can't ever be corrupted, and it can banish darkness and evil if you can focus it properly."

"How – how can I have a Light inside me that I don't even know about?" Dawn asked, feeling confused and a little scared. _'Light, as in my soul? What does it mean?'_

Tim shrugged. "Don't know, but apparently it's important or something."

Any further discussion about what Tim and Matt discovered ended when Arthur and Sarah returned with some sandwiches and glasses of milk for the group. Although still wary of the maid, especially Eva, they accepted food since it'd been hours since they had had dinner, and all the running around they'd been doing had taken a toll on their blood sugar levels.

* * *

Maybe it was because of the stress and all the running they been doing, or maybe something had been added to the food and drink. But a few minutes after they were done eating, the group found that they were feeling _very_ tired, which meant that they all were in some desperate need of some rest, and Arthur promised to wake them up in ten minutes.

It wasn't long before Lele was curled up in one of the chairs after kicking off her heels, Matt was dozing in the other chair, Joey snagged some pillows to put on the floor, where he and Dawn laid down and he once again wrapped an arm around her waist. This got some eyebrows raised from Oli, Benny, Sierra, Tim, and Eva, but they all were too tired to say anything about it as they each either claimed one of the two couches or also laid down on the floor.

Soon they were all fast asleep and some of them were soon having some _very_ strange and disturbing dreams, but not all of them were.

* * *

While the group was sleeping in the living room since none of them wanted to be alone in any part of the house, the person who was in league with the evil was spying on them. The progress and sacrifices made by the YouTubers was impressive, and they had made more progress then even the person had expected by this point.

' _They have the artifacts,'_ the person thought, looking over at the four artifacts that were on display on the mantle. _'Soon, they will do the ritual, and that's when_ everything _will change. But that won't be the kind of change they will be_ expecting _.'_

The person looked round when an eerie whispering began, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. _`'The Light-bearer has been told! The Light-bearer has been told!'`_

"I know," the person whispered to the evil of the house. "But it won't matter since she doesn't know how to summon or use the Light inside her. She won't be able to use it against you or those of us who serve you." And as the person said this, the person watched as wisps of Darkness came out of the walls and encircling the sleeping figures in order to infect them – all but two.

The moment that the Darkness attempted to encircle Dawn and Joey, the girl began glowing white and that glow spread to the boy, covering them both, and the Darkness was forced away. Just like it had been for the weeks that she had been there to protect Joey from the nightmare and the evil of the house.

 _`'The Light! It burns!'`_

"It won't for long," the person promised as the Darkness retreated and the couple stopped glowing. "Soon, soon they will do the ritual, and they will succumb to your power. They _all_ will." The person then slipped away to prepare for the next phase of the dark plan.

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A/N: Hmm, let me know what you think of that plot twist concerning Dawn and the Light in your reviews and I will see you all on Tuesday for the start of the next episode. Bye! R&R everyone!


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